Backing sheet for use in preparing manifold copies



Dec. 16, 1952 5, COOPER 2,621,945

BACKING SHEET FOR USE IN PREPARING MANIFOLD COPIES &

F1186 Sept. 8, 1951 IN V EN TOR.

[Jazz/ZS. Cooper Patented Dec. 16, 1952 U NITiEjD TATES rAJTZEiNT OFF-13E iBA'CKIN'GSHEETFOR USEIN PREPARING "MANIFOLD COPIES .-Frank Cooper, Gulf, App 'september 8, IQELSQ LI Nil-24536.65

aligned across the'backing 's'heet'near its top and are adapted to flex 'divergingly a sufficient dis- ;tance'to receive theedges-ofan-assembly of paper sheets ,to be aligned and clamped in place to facilitate and assure theretentive positioning of all ,such sheets preliminary to and during the operation of making'impressions thereon.

A backing sheet of "this character is advan- .tageous in "that :it facilitates the "retention and prnper alignment of .a number of sheets which include interleaved record and carbon sheets. Such a backing sheet is flexible so as to bend when passing around the platen of a typewriter or other recording machine, and is desirably resilient to some .degree as well. The tongues also are bendable outwardly from the normal flat plane-ofthe'backing sheet so as to exert a light clamping pressure upon the paper sheet assembly when rested upon the backing sheet. However, .the upper edge portion of the paper .sheet assembly is deflected at points adjacent opposite sides of thetongues, and 'thesebends whichoccur V at spaced points crosswise of the paper sheet assembly take on the form of bulges which may be detrimental to the sheets in more ways than one. At each point of bulge the paper assembly is subjected to a crimping action which tends to pinch and squeeze each of the paper sheets thereby to produce a puckering thereof, and also to transfer a smudge from a sheet that is carbon-coated to an adjacent record sheet. These are some of the deficiencies which are inherent in backing sheets as heretofore made.

It is an object of this invention to eliminate all such shortcomings with the present backing sheet whereon a paper sheet assembly may be operatively positioned. I accomplish this by dual means, viz., the form and location of the rectangular slots which together with certain depending incisions define the tongues and also fix the spacing thereof with respect to each other. As a result. an assembly of record and carbon sheets may be inserted beneath the clamping tongues for retentive positioning thereby with only a minimum of deflection on the part of the tongues and on the part of the sheets which are held thereby. All undesirable bulging, with conseguent transverse contraction of the sheet, is thereby effectively avoided. I

A suggestive embodiment of my invention is illustrated in the accompanying drawing wherein:

Figure *1 is a view inperspective of the back ing sheet per se;

Figs. '2 and 13 are enlarged fragmentary sectional views taken on lines '-22 and 3-3 ofFig.

1, showing-an"assembly of paper sheetsoperatively positioned on the backing sheet; and

Fig. '4 tea fragmentary-plan view-of one upper corner portion of "the present backing sheet.

The present backing sheet 6 is of a size for cooperation with-an assembly of record and-car bon sheets A which are to *be opera-ted upon by a printing orirecordingmachine, such as a typewriter. As illustratedin "Figs. land 8, the'-back ing sheet S isprovidednearits upper endwith a .row of .aligned-base-slots I 0, allalike, and each of substantially rectangular contour with its longer ,dimension crosswise of the sheet. The upper and lower edges of these base slots are coincidentwith the broken lines w-x and y-y.

The :slots are-also even in "number and spacing.

'The inner end of each base slot at the end "of therow joinswith one end of a relatively narrow incision 'H -in the-form of a depending loop. As shown, each such incision is arcuate'With it-s center located on the line 11-11. *Theouter edge of this'inci-sionterminates onthe'liney-y whereas its inner edge continues on up to terminate with the line a:x and constitute the inner edges for the associated slots. Each pair of base slots I0 is similarly joined at its inner ends to a depending arcuate incision H thereby to form in each case a tongue T between which are intervening web portions l2. From Fig. 4 it will be apparent that the width of each tongue crosswise of the sheet is greater than is its length, and measured from its center point 0 the tongue length is one-half of its width.

The backing sheet is desirably formed from some paper or composition material that is both flexible and resilient. The sheet is required to bend in use, and the tongues should normally remain in a plane which is coincident with that of the backing sheet. As illustrated clearly in Fig. 1, the number of base slots is eight, making four tongues therebetween, this being a convenient and satisfactory arrangement for a backing sheet having a width of approximately 8 The spacing of the outermost base slots from the proximate sides of the sheet is desirably the same as that existing between the slots themselves, thereby fixing the position of the outermost tongues inwardly from the sheet sides by a distance which is approximately the same as the spacing between the tongues themselves. When inserting a sheet assembly A in operative position upon the present backing sheet, it will be convenient to angle the several tongues upwardly in relation to the normal plane of the sheet, by flexing back its upper edge portion.

Any such position of the tongues is, of course,

abnormal since they tend to return to a coplanar position relative to the backing sheet, and will do so whenever permitted to restore themselves to normal position.

When the tongue are angularly raised, as shown in Fig. 2, the insertion of an assembly A of record and carbon sheets is facilitated. When properly inserted, the several paper and carbon sheets comprised in the assembly will be correctly aligned with respect to each other, and will also be clamped retentively beneath the several tongues. Inasmuch as the sheet assembly A forces the tongues T to remain flexed upwardly out of the plane of the backing sheet (see Figs. 2 and 3), the portions of the backing sheet along the line a:x between these tongues, i. e., the webs [2, will be subjected to an opposite pressure tending to flex the webs downwardly between the base slots Ill. These webs are of a length the same as the width of the tongues along the line :r-a: so as to resist equally therewith the opposite pressures tending to produce opposite deflections thereof from the normal plane of the backing sheet (see Fig. 3). These base slots 10 are of substantial size and slightly elongated transversely of the backing sheet, so that the assembled record and carbon sheets are required to bridge a relatively wide span when passing from a plane below the tongues to one upon the sheet. As a result, the record and carbon sheets are bulged only gently and slightly, and evenly in both directions. The deflections of the assembly of record and carbon sheets along their clamped end portions, in a plane normal to that of the backing sheet, produce a gently undulating contour, as suggested in Fig. 3. There is no pinching or squeezing of the sheets such as to impair their smoothness, and also to contract their overall width, nor is there any tendency for the carbon sheets to smudge the record sheets in this elongated area of undulation.

n. nu

I claim:

1. A backing sheet of the kind described formed of a flexible resilient material having near its upper edge and parallel therewith a row of rectangular slots, even in number and spacing and each elongated lengthwise of the row, and each pair of slots, commencinging with the two at one end of the row, being joined at its inner end with two opposite ends of a depending relatively narrow incision in the form of a loop thereby to define a tongue evenly spaced from the adjacent tongues, the length of each tongue being less than its width at its point of connection with the backing sheet and its width at such point approximating that of each web extending between adjacent pairs of the base slots.

2. A backing sheet of the kind described formed of a flexible resilient material having near its upper edge and parallel therewith a row of substantially rectangular slots, even in number and spacing and each elongated lengthwise of the row with opposite horizontal edges coincident with upper and lower parallel lines, and each pair of slots, commencing with the two at one end of the row, being joined at its inner ends with opposite ends of a depending relatively narrow arcuate incision extending through a full 180 and having its center located midway of the associated slots and substantially on the lower of the two parallel lines coincident with their horizontal edges whereby the outer edge of the arcuate incision terminates at its point of juncture with the lower edge of each slot and the inner edge of the incision continues upwardly therebeyond to join with the upper edge of each slot and to constitute therefor its inner edge, thereby to define a tongue evenly spaced from the adjacent tongues and joined to the backing sheet along a lin coincident with, and of the same length as, the Webs between adjacent pair of slots.

FRANK S. COOPER.

REFERENCES CITED The following references are of record in the file of this patent:

UNITED STATES PATENTS Number Name Date 1,999,015 Cooper Apr. 23, 1935 2,095,792 Cooper Oct. 12, 1937 

